A sneckdown on a corner in Allston, MA

A sneckdown (or snowy neckdown) is a temporary curb extension caused by snowfall, where snow has built up in the road but not been flattened by traffic, effectively reshaping the curb. Sneckdowns show how the space is being used by vehicle and foot traffic, and may reveal points where a street could be usefully narrowed with neckdowns to slow motor vehicle speeds and shorten pedestrian crossing distances.

The term was coined by Streetsblog founder Aaron Naparstek in 2014,[1][2] popularized by Streetfilms director Clarence Eckerson, Jr. and spread widely via social media.[3] Other Twitter hashtags that have been used to describe snow-based traffic-calming measures include #plowza, #slushdown, #snovered and #snowspace.[4]

Sneckdown showing a triangle of less used road space on a T-intersection in Sofia

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at Baltimore and 48th Street, a sneckdown-inspired permanent upgrade to the pedestrian environment was made in 2011.[5] In the 1980s, some planners in Australia distributed cake flour in intersections to observe patterns of vehicle movement hours later.[4]

Documenting sneckdowns is an autographic design practice that takes advantage of the self-inscribing qualities of snow.[6] The practice of using snow to trace the behavior of vehicles, pedestrians, and playing children was already described in Camillo Sitte's 1901 urban design treatise.[7]

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sneckdowns.
  1. ↑ "Aaron Naparstek". Twitter.
  2. ↑ "Natural traffic control". The Economist. 13 February 2014.
  3. ↑ "Streetfilms - The Complete Origin of the #Sneckdown".
  4. 1 2 "Sneckdowns: Using Snow Pileup to Design Better Streets - New York YIMBY". New York YIMBY. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  5. ↑ "Can Snow Inspire Better Streets? It Already Has". Streetsblog USA.
  6. ↑ Offenhuber, Dietmar (2023). Autographic Design - the Matter of Data in a Self-Inscribing World. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262547024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  7. ↑ Sitte, Camillo (1901). Der Städtebau Nach Seinen Künstlerischen Grundsätzen [City planning according to artistic principles]. Vienna: Graeser.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
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